1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a backlight unit, a method of driving the backlight unit, and a display device including the backlight unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display device includes a display panel on which pixels are arranged, a gate driver applying gate signals to the pixels, a data driver applying data voltages to the pixels, and a backlight unit applying a light to the display panel.
The pixels receive the data voltages in response to the gate signals and are operated in response to the data voltages. The pixels operated by the data voltages control a transmittance of the light provided from the backlight unit to display an image.
The backlight unit is operated in a dimming mode. The dimming mode is used to control an amount of the light from the backlight unit in consideration of brightness of the image, and thus power consumption in the backlight unit is reduced.
The dimming mode is classified into an analog dimming mode and a digital dimming mode. The digital dimming mode is performed by a pulse width modulation (PWM) method. The analog dimming mode controls an amount of electrical current applied to a light source while the light source of the backlight unit is in a full-on state, and thus brightness of the backlight unit is controlled. The digital dimming mode controls an ON/OFF of the light source to control the brightness of the backlight unit.